The Lubavitchers came out in force,ntaking care to throw a protective cordonnaround the Rebbe and his worldnheadquarters. Apologists for the riotersnof course claimed they were expressing,nonce again, their rage for thenlegacy of slavery. For once, it was easynfor the rioters to find “a Jew,” since thenHasids could be spotted by their distinctivenuniform. Finally, after days ofnrioting, in which the police, too, expressedntheir rage by clubbing newsmennand photographers, the blacknrioters exacted blood vengeance bynexultantly stabbing to death a visitingnAustralian Hasid, trapped in the crossfirenof a world he could not be expectednto understand.nFor many New Yorkers, comic reliefnduring the race riots was provided bynthe mugging of loudmouthed, leftwingnpopulist, pro-black, Irish-Americannjournalist Jimmy Breslin, whonprides himself on hanging around innbars and having “street smarts,” one ofna New Yorker’s proudest accomplishments.nWell, Jimmy clearly has spentntoo much time lately hanging aroundnwith the elite, because he made his firstnbig mistake by taking a cab to the racenriot. Sort of like Marie Antoinettentaking a cab to revisit the sans-culottes.nWhen Jimmy arrives at the scene thenyoung lads of the “black community”nimmediately yank him out of the cab,nstrip him naked, grab his wallet, andnbeat him. Meanwhile, Jimmy is yelling,n”But I’m not Jewish!” and showing thenyoung lads his press pass! Presumablynby this time, his assailants had becomenequal opportunity muggers. Jimmy hadnsurely lost it, expecting that the publicnschool system had actually enabled thenyoung muggers to read his pass; undoubtedlynthey thought Jimmy was annarc, and redoubled their mugging.nAfter being rescued, Jimmy deliverednhimself of some choice epithets aboutnthe muggers specifically and about thenNegro people in general, but the nextnday, safe in his Manhattan office, henreverted to his usual polihcally correctnstance.nAn uneasy calm returned to the citynafter that, but months later, this timenduring Christmas week, black violencenstruck again, this time in a bizarre butnunfortunately not rare incident involvingnmusic, athletics, and what is laughinglyncalled “higher education.” Thenmost popular form of “music” amongn44/CHRONICLESnurban black youth for the last severalnyears has been “rap,” in which thenperformers seem to be only one or twonyears older than their devoted admirers.n(As someone who firmly believesnthat all popular music since BennynGoodman has emanated from variousncircles of hell, I will not try to elucidatenthe niceties of rap, or its possible differencesnfrom “hip-hop.”) Rap concertsnhave often been an occasion for violencenamong the excited youth. Indeed,nin November, a rap concert innWashington almost led to violencenwhen an excited throng, trying to getnin, broke down the glass doors of thenentrance hall.nDuring Christmas week, the oncedisfinguishednCity College of NewnYork (CCNY) located in Harlem,nwhose graduates at one time earnednmore Ph.D.’s than those of any otherncollege, decided to put on, in its gymnasium,nnot a rap concert, but a celebritynbasketball game between two setsnof rap stars. Even granting that rap isn”music,” why anyone should want tonsee their favorite musicians play basketballnpasseth understanding. On thenevening of the game, however, thenpressure of the black lads and lasses tonget into the arena became a stampedenagainst the glass doors, in which ninenpeople were trampled to death andndozens injured. Stampeding people tondeath trying to get out of a buildingn(e.g., one that is burning) is fairlyncommon; but trampling people tondeath to get in a building?nWhen the deaths began, the promotersncalled off the basketball game.nThis action enraged the youth in thenseats, some of whom jumped from thenbleachers trampling still more peoplenbelow, while others, amidst the carnage,nwere, in true New York fashion,ndemanding their money back. Still othersnlaughingly took the opportunity tondemand autographs from their rap favorites.nWhen emergency medics finallynarrived at the scene, they werenpummeled, beaten, had their hairnpulled out, and were choked by thenmob, either in an attempt to get themnto tend to their particular friends or justnon general principles.nIn the days since this inimitablenpiece of New Yorkana, every layer ofnbureaucracy, every person and institutionninvolved, has spent their timendenying any responsibility or pointingnnnthe finger somewhere else. The policendenied being late for the fray, andnclaimed that the college was responsiblenfor security. The college blamednthe police, while the nearby firemennsaid they should have been called. Thencollege said that the rap promoter, anyouth named PuflF Daddy, was supposednto provide security; for a while, itnwas claimed that the House of Islamnwas hired by Puff Daddy to providensecurity, but that four-fifths of themnwalked off the job before the gamenbecause of a salary dispute. But thenHouse of Islam claimed they knewnnothing, and that the guards belongednto a renegade black Muslim outfitncalled Group-X.nIt took a long time, in fact, to-findnout that Puff Daddy had been thenpromoter. At first, it was believed thatnthe rap radio station KISS, which hadnboosted the game heavily and used itsnlogo on the advertising, was a copromoter,nbut KISS claimed it knewnnothing. Another puzzle: who signednthe contract for the college? The headnof the student center, a Haitian immigrantnnamed Jean Charles, said that,neven though he is a lawyer, he reallynknew nothing, didn’t know that a rapngroup was involved, and declared thatnthe contract had been signed by anwoman representing the Evening StudentnGovernment. This lady, CassaundranKirnon, is a 40-year-old “student”nwho, as a secretary for the New YorknCity Department of Cultural Affairs,nwas voted in as head of the studentngovernment by 53 out of 7,000 eveningnstudents, and heads a clique ofnfive students in charge of a heftyn$46,000 annual budget. Miss Kirnonnapparently believes that CCNY presidentnBernard Harleston, who is alsonblack, is an Uncle Tom type not sufficientlynmilitant on behalf of black interests.nMiss Kirnon, among all thenprincipals, shut herself off totally fromnthe press, although she is said to haven”cooperated” with the authorities.nHarieston got into deep trouble lastnspring during the City University studentnsit-in strike by being the onlyncollege head who failed to call in thenpolice to root out the strikers. Now hencut a singularly unimpressive figure onntelevision, as he “accepted responsibility”nfor the episode. Less than manfully,nhe stumbled: “Well, uh, I guess thatnas president I’m sort of responsible, butn